iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

Sorry it took some time. I’ve been a bit busy lately as I embarked on my first working (internship) experience. I’m still trying to find time to fit all of my usual activities and I do hope that after this I would still have time to write more entries to techylh. Well the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus still haven’t been released here in Malaysia so I guess I’m still early xP. Normally they would reach here in around 2-3 months of the official launch date. So mark your calendar around end of October or early November. Fingers crossed that it will come sooner.  I have seen a few imported units of iPhone 6 and they do look nice. Holding the iPhone 6 in my hands doesn’t feel awkward even though it now has a bigger screen. In fact I can say that it still feels nice to hold the iPhone 6 (no say about the 6 Plus).

The most obvious difference between the new iPhones and the old ones are, of course, the screen sizes. As rumoured, the iPhone 6 has now a 4.7-inch (1334x750) screen size while the “bigger than big” iPhone has a 5.5-inch (1920x1080) screen size. iPhone 6 has the same number of pixels per inch (ppi) as the previous iPhones with Retina display (321), but it is touted to have the new Retina Display HD with the  technology that is supposed to display brighter colours.  The iPhone 6 Plus also has the Retina Display HD technology but with a higher 401ppi. As the screen size of the iPhone 6 Plus is gigantic, Apple has come up with a way to make it easier for you to touch the top of the display without shifting your fingers around the phone. It is called Reachability. It is activated by double-touching, I repeat double-touching not tapping the home button. This would bring the top of the screen down to half the screen and thus allowing the user to touch top buttons easily.  The convenience of this method remains to be seen. Although the screen went for a rise, the thickness decreased even more. The iPhone 6 has a thickness of only 6.9 mm while its bigger sibling is slightly (not even that noticeable) thicker at 7.1mm.

With bigger screen sizes, comes the need for bigger batteries. Compared to the small 1440 mAh battery found in the iPhone 5S. The iPhone 6 has now an 1810mAh battery sealed closed inside it while the iPhone 6 Plus has a 2915 mAh battery. So far reports and test doesn’t suggest much improvement in terms of battery life hours obtained on the new iPhones, they are said to last just a full-day with normal usage. 

In terms of design, it now looks closer to the iPads with its rounded edges compared to previous square design. All three colours are available (Space Grey, Silver, and Champagne Gold). Both the iPhones now have the power button relocated to the right side of the phone. This tremendously helps us to better reach it (something that they may have been inspired by from Samsung). Other than that most of the buttons are in the same place with the headphone jack, speaker, and microphone still on the bottom side of the phone. The microphone port now has fewer holes than the speaker port. Not to forget, both models have the Touch ID feature first found on the iPhone 5S.

Zooming to the inside, they have both a 1.4 Ghz A8 (Apple’s second 64-bit desktop class ) chip combined with an M8 motion coprocessor and 1GB of ram, it might not be the best specification in the market but you have to take into account that the iPhone 6 is running iOS instead of Android. iOS in general doesn’t require as much memory and processing power as an Android (another similar OS in this case would be Windows Mobile).  It still offers a smooth user experience that we all enjoy while, and quoting Apple, while being able to handle even the most demanding and intensive games. The A8 chip is said to be exponentially better in terms of processing power compared to the A7 chip.

For those of you who need more storage space exceeding 64GB, you’re in luck! Apple has finally heard your calls and have thus started offering a maximum storage space of 128GB (That’s like half of my laptop’s capacity =_=) Nevertheless, extra of anything is welcomed as long as it doesn’t hinge the practicality and usability of the device.  They have also kicked out the 32GB option, so now you have the 16, 64, and 128GB options. Personal opinion, they should have just stopped the 16GB model and maintained  the 32GB but this is maybe a way to reduce the cost/price.

I would not touch much about the software aspect as that should be covered in an article dedicated entirely to the new iOS 8. 

              Apple has decided to stick with the 8-megapixel shooter (manufactured by Sony) on its new iPhones amidst other competitor churning out devices that have cameras on average with 13-megapixels. Like they say, it’s not the megapixels that count; it’s the end results. And what the iPhone capture are stunning! The iSight camera now has a new sensor with Focus Pixels. The photos produced are clear improvements over the 5S.  In terms of video recording, both are now capable of taking super-slow motion video (240fps compared to 5S’ slow-mo of 120fps). The new camera can also record Full-HD video at 1080p, and as extra it can now take time-lapse videos. Included with the new camera app on iOS 8, we now have more control over the settings of our camera. On the iPhone 6 Plus, you’ll find an Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) that’ll help you take better videos. This is another feature that differentiates the 6 Plus from the 6.

              With the addition of NFC to the iPhone (something not new to the market but new to Apple), Apple has released a new feature called Apple Pay which allows you to pay at any accepting  stores by tapping your iPhone towards a sensor (much like the touch&wave credit card feature). It remains to be seen if this feature would be useful in Malaysia as it depends a lot on the stores. Most of those that signed up with Apple are found and are limited to the USA.

              The new iPhone has even more LTE bands than before with up to 20 of them.  This essentially means that the iPhone is a more international phone, allowing the user to connect to different LTE networks in different countries that uses different frequencies.  Other than new bands the iPhone now could reach download speeds of up to 150Mbsp. Now it’s your turn telcos! A new Wi-fi antenna (802.11ac) means that the iPhone could reach higher download speeds than before. In anticipation of pairing the iPhone with the Apple Watch, Apple has added Bluetooth LE (low energy) that would essentially allow the iPhone to pair with the smartwatch without draining the smartphone’s battery too much.

              To summarize, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are improvements over the previous model as Apple is just catching up with the market (bigger screen size and NFC) in terms of specifications. But still, don’t let this article discourage you from buying it. If you are an avid photographer, this is a model you wouldn’t want to miss. And if you are planning on upgrading from at least iPhone 4S, this is a no­-brainer decision. With a bigger screen, you’ll get to see more of your favourite contents now and get an overall better smartphone experience ;D